The Resume Secrets We Tell Our Friends and Family

By Amanda Clark | Small Business

The Resume Secrets We Tell Our Friends and Family

The Grammar Chic, Inc. resume writing team provides professional insights and editorial assistance to jobseekers across the country, day in and day out. As you might imagine, though, the questions about proper resume construction don’t end when we clock out for the day. Friends and family members, aware of what we do for a living, are constantly asking us to offer a little free advice—and naturally, we are all too happy to comply.

So what exactly do we tell them? Do we give them the straight dope—insights we’d withhold from paying customers? Not at all. We really just reveal the basic pointers we work by throughout the day. If you’re curious to know the truly important resume writing tips we give to family and friends, we’ll summarize the main ones for you.

Don’t Use Any Words You Can’t Easily Define and Explain.

Are you a “dynamic” employee? That’s great—but what exactly does it mean? What would you say if you were in a job interview and the interviewer asked you what the word meant to you? If you don’t have a ready answer, then it’s best not to include it in the resume—because it’s probably just too vague to be useful. This goes for any resume buzzword or cliché that doesn’t communicate specific, definable value.

Show. Don’t Tell.

This is one of the oldest storytelling pointers in the book—and it’s very relevant as you tell the story of your career and your professional value. Don’t tell employers that you’re hard-working, motivated, or team-oriented. Anyone can say these things. Show that you’re hard-working, motivated, and team-oriented by including actual anecdotes or results you achieved, proving that you possess these traits.

You’re trying to get a job. Skip this section in favor of an Executive Summary.

White Space Matters.

Not every inch of your resume needs to be covered in words, and in fact, a resume that’s just wall-to-wall text is going to be a major turn-off to employers. White space matters: Give your words room to breathe, and the hiring manager an easy way to skim through your resume and focus on bullet points.

None of this advice is new, but it does have the advantage of being true—and, for jobseekers, utterly important.